Wednesday, February 27, 2008

AUTHORPALOOZA Recap

The Answers:

Carnivorous Musical Gender-Specific Instruments.

Expired Carcass Fornication.

Female Self-Gratification. (Is there any other kind?)

Indulgences in literary genius, truffles that made their way to the floor, and then into Manic's mouth, and fine wine.

Whether or not our waiter looked more like Adam Duritz of Counting Crows (my thought) or the dude from Entourage (Swishy's), which clearly demonstrates our TREMENDOUS age gap.

The Question:

What are just a few of the Unpredictable Commentaries Discussed at Our Very Own Self-Titled Authorpalooza?

As you may know, Jess, Swish, and I have been waiting eons for the debut of our very good friend (it's official now, right? Cuz we actually met in real life!) Eileen Cook's novel. We met up with her last night to celebrate with dinner and drinks and then went to her reading and booksigning.

Dinner Group:


Eileen Signing Postcards. That's a prezzy we bought her! See what'll happen if you become our friend--we'll get you a big prezzy! (It's actually just a snazzy empty box--we had EVERYONE FOOLED!)


The evening was star-strikingly fabulosoloosy funtabuloso! Eileen is awesome, and generous, and humorous, with a cool accent that is neither a Midwesterny twang nor a Canadian "EH," although I did ask her to shoot me out one of those, and she did deliver!

She is very much eloquent and carries herself in a class in which I don't belong. Like Class A Classy Chick. Come to think of it, I probably could have been a slight embarrassment to her. Good thing I bought four of her books to make up for my lack of soivewafair. See, I can't even spell that fllaaaa fllasssss fllaaaaahhhh fllaaaaa fluffy phrase I'm trying to say. I could Google it but then it would make me look smart, and I'm too real for that.

So, after Eileen read from Unpredictable, which, if I'm not mistaken is climbing the book charts faster than... faster than... FASTER THAN THIS WOMAN CAN SPEAK! (Who, incidentally, we had the pleasure of dining with last night as well! Hi Ruth!)

Then there were more drinks and more authors, including a surprise cameo author visit from Jen Lancaster of Jennsylvania, author of Bitter is the New Black which completely rocked my world, because if you know Swish and me, being surrounded by authors is like being front and center at your favorite rock concert, with the lead singer oozing your favorite lyrics at you, sweat dripping from his brow onto you!

Except you can actually hear and have a conversation, but you can still get drunk if you want to (not that we did, cuz come on, it was like a Tuesday night!)

Eileen and Me:


Fast Talker/Actress/Author Ruth & Me Showing Off Eileen's Display:


Me, Swish, Jen Lancaster, Jess, Eileen, KB:


Cameo Surprise Author Jen Lancaster! Are you "Bitter" I got to meet her!? Ya Should Be!


So, we're all hanging out: Eileen, and Jen, who's upcoming book, Such a Pretty Fat, debuts in the spring, and Jess, who's FAB book Driving Sideways also debuts this spring; and then there's Chicago blogger pal, Kristabella, wine connoisseur, blood donor and witness to previous Swishy-Jess-Manic antics, and we cannot forget heiress awesomeness Jamie, the self-proclaimed lackey to Eileen, who is so very fun and cool, and Eileen's cousins are there, and Jess hottie bro stops by, and boy, if I wasn't happily lustfully married to Mr. Manic boy would I... ha, just kidding...

Anyway... A great night, with truffles!

And then, here's me, trying to make a nice first impression at the bar, hoping especially that Jen and Eileen won't hold it totally against me when I snatch up the last fallen mocha truffle from the floor and shove it into my mouth.

Just like that. From the floor.

I mean, yeah, it was the last one, and there is that five second rule isn't there? I don't care if I mortified Swish and Jess, and KB--they already know me--but the others there. God forbid if I embarrass myself by picking food off the floor, but come on, A MOCHA TRUFFLE.

Forgive me.

Me, KB, Kevin (aka Counting Crows/Entourage Boy), Swish:


Eileen's BFF Jamie (aka Lackey), Eileen, Jess:


Here's a really cute picture of my Tukey and Jess:


And another picture of Jess and me...


But where the hell is Swishy? Here's the scoop. Swishy had to excuse herself from the photo opp. Actually, she was busy elswhere.

Last I heard she was F#$KING MATT DAMON!

VIEWER BEWARE!



THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT!

30 comments:

CelticBuffy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CelticBuffy said...

Could we go back in time and I could have your life for just last night?! I'm drooling! I'd love to not only a)hang out with people who READ books, b) hang out with people who WRITE books, and C) meet Jen Lancaster! (Yes, I live in hicksville) Thanks for posting the pics too!

AutoSysGene said...

Looks like fun was had by all!! So many new books so little time!!

House of Jules said...

That looked like SO MUCH FUN!! Wish I had been there to enjoy the whole mob scene, and to see you eat a truffle off of the floor (I mean, who among us hasn't done that?!)! I need to quit my job so I can start getting to the books on my book pile...
Jules
House of Jules

Kate said...

Too much fun!

I would have totally fought you for that fallen truffle.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Kate, I woulda shared!

lilypotter said...

Wow, what a great night you had! And congrats on the Matt Damon thing. Although, I think I'm a bit more impressed that you actually ate the truffle...

Mom of All Seasons said...

So good to meet you last night, Manic! Jeanette, Eileen and I giggled the whole way back home. Oh, and just so you all know... I sat RIGHT NEXT to Jen Lancaster!

Kate, I saw her go for that truffle and I have to say, I don't think she would have really shared...they were that good.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

So, Jamie, you totally don't fault me for grabbing that truffle from the floor now do ya???

Anonymous said...

Could I be any giddier to be in the presence of all you AWESOME people? My God, my face is PURPLE in that one photo. I do not handle being out in public well. If that isn't a shit-eating grin, I do not know what it is.

I had so much fun! It was great to hang out with everyone! And I totally forgot about the Carnivorous Musical Gender-Specific Instruments! Ha!

Shelley said...

Wow, that looks like so much fun! You guys totally look like people I would want to party with. You know, if I lived anywhere near the midwest, which I don't. Just saying.

That video nearly made me pee my pants. Way to go, Swishy!

Trish Ryan said...

And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the joy of the writing blogsphere...even if we can't be there to witness the Swishy/Manic/Jess team celebrating Eileen's great book, we get to feel like we were there. (And Manic, I totally would have gone for the truffle...no shame there!)

Lola Granola said...

SO COOL! I am way behind your times and very jealous. ThIs one will be hard to top!

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

SHOOT! I hate blogger! Just had a great comment about Swishy $%^ING Matt Damon and how now everyone thinks she did and so now it's going VIRAL on the WEB! But Blogger ate it!

And Trish R--we talked about how you'll be debuting soon last night and how we wondered about where you'll be signing in CHICAGO TOO!!!!! SOON!!! You should really check into the Printer's Row Book Fair like I had mentioned to you earlier; that, and the Midwest Literary Festival.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Lola Granola made me smile! That's a cute "Blog Handle!"

Eileen said...

OMG. These look hysterical. I totally missed the truffle on the floor.

Can you believe Jen L showed up? I was trying to act casual, but I'm not sure I pulled it off.

You were amazing. Swish was divine, Jess was hysterical- a good time was had by all. Thanks sooooo much for coming.

Laski said...

OMG--that is so awesome. You look like you had a blast! A night surrounded by writers, books, food/drink . . . heaven, anyone???

Anonymous said...

You looked like you had so much fun! And everyone looked so pretty and swanky, too!

Steph, I totally would have fought you for the truffle from the floor. Mocha? mmmmm! You're lucky I wasn't invited ;) My savoir faire is trumped by yours, apparently (sorry, I speak French, I can't help it!).

Glad you all had a great evening! And now I have more books to add to the list (note, not the pile... that's full already).

Michelle

secretmom said...

looks like such a fun night! how long was the truffle on the ground? five seconds or less and it's no problem!

xxxx said...

OK, you KNOW I am going to point this out: It was SO NOT the last truffle!!! There was Jess's brother's half-eaten one. ON the table. You saw him, he looked like a nice, clean guy. Not germy at all! You should have eaten THAT one!

Ruth Kaufman said...

Great summation of a great evening!

As Cape Cod Turns said...

Fun night! Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you! I can even taste the truffle, ooh, had a little sand on it.
Thanks for sharing Matt Damon, too. Damn, he's beautiful!

Unknown said...

Oh! Looks like you had SO much fun! And everyone looks so happy! Swishy, Matt Damon. Hmmmmmm

Moll said...

I am so jealous! If I had met Jen L I probably would have pissed my pants. What a fun and amazing night!

Robin said...

A half eaten truffle!!!

Someone can stop eating truffles in the middle... Manic expel that person from your group and invite ME!!

stephhale said...

I wish I lived about 3 hours north so I could have fun with you! I'm SO jealous. Congrats to Eileen! And Jen freaking rocks.
That video made me pee myself....

Anonymous said...

The matt damon video is hillarious have you seen the Ben Affleck one?? Even more hillarious!!

Jess Riley said...

How lucky am I that I got to hang out with YOU on Tuesday? Manic, you just plain ol' rock. Excellent recap, my dear. I am SO glad I came down!!!

(And I'm sure the floor was totally clean. You know, with the whole truffle business.)

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Jess, you CAME down? Is that like GOING DOWN or "COMING" down? You, of all people should have chosen your words more carefully before posting this comment. You meat-whistler you.

And URGrounded, first of all, love that blog name! And yeah, LOVE the Ben Affleck video even more so! For those who have NOT seen the retaliation video from the Matt Damon video, you can see it over at Swishy's blog, along with HER version of the Truffle story!!!

cubmommy said...

Sounds like you guys had a blast! Always an adventure with you two.